Damn Interesting

Musical Torment

When the human ear encounters music, a number of brain systems are engaged by the incoming sound. The music signal is first directed to the thalamus, which relays the information to the primary auditory cortex. Once activated, this part of the brain is thought to identify the fundamental elements of the music, such as pitch and loudness. The secondary auditory cortex then processes the harmony, melody and rhythmic patterns, and the tertiary auditory cortex seems to integrate everything into the overall experience of music. Such is the process to the best of modern science’s understanding, but the complex mental digestion of music is not yet fully understood.

Equally difficult to explain is a strange phenomenon known as “musical hallucinations” which is a condition very similar to having a song stuck in one’s head; but the music is considerably more true-to-life, it is heard almost non-stop, and it is practically impossible to ignore.

The condition was first identified over a century ago, though phantom songs were haunting people since long before it was officially recognized by medicine. Sufferers describe it as a constant flow of random songs, with one song often leading to the next in a never-ending shuffle-mode torment. In some cases, a single song is heard repeatedly. The sound is so vivid that when a person first starts experiencing the symptoms, they often ask others whether they can hear the music, too. Many of the people who complain of the affliction are elderly, and often they are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Historically, little effort has been made to study the strange phenomenon, but Doctors Victor Aziz and Nick Warner of Wales recently conducted an analysis of thirty cases of musical hallucinations. The study, which spanned fifteen years’ worth of patients, has revealed some interesting new information about the condition.

The condition differs from schizophrenia in that there are no imaginary voices speaking to the sufferer, just a constant stream of music. Women reported the problem more often than men, and the average age of the patients was seventy-eight. The type of music heard by these individuals varied greatly, but about two-thirds of those studied tended to hear religious music. Dr. Aziz suggests that the songs the brain regurgitates may be those which the patient has heard a lot during his or her life, and/or those songs with special emotional significance.

Over the years, a handful of PET scans have been done on people who experience these hallucinations. The results of those tests indicate that most of the brain regions which are stimulated by music in a normal person are highly active during these hallucinations. The notable exception is the primary auditory cortex— the area responsible for early music processing— which shows very little activity. It is possible that musical hallucinations are the product of a mental malfunction where random impulses generated by the brain itself are detected by the secondary and tertiary auditory cortices, and interpreted as music. This could also explain why so many of the sufferers happen to be deaf or hearing-impaired; it is likely that the stimuli-deprived hearing centers of the brain become hypersensitive to these impulses.

An additional study by Haggai Hermesh, M.D., a senior lecturer in psychiatry at Tel Aviv University in Israel, showed that many people who experience musical hallucinations also suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). His team of researchers examined people with a myriad of mental disorders, including bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and social phobia. Of those groups, none ranked nearly as high in instances of musical hallucinations as those patients with OCD, a curiously high 41%.

Unfortunately, the information gathered by these studies has done little to produce useful treatment. Some psychiatrists have tried prescribing antipsychotic drugs to relieve the musical hallucinations, but most such attempts have met with failure. The affliction’s relationship with OCD suggests that anti-OCD drugs may offer some relief, but that theory is still a long way from clinical testing. At present, the only effective treatment for sufferers is to listen to real music, which essentially gives the music-processing areas of the brain something to chew on… but of course that solution is of little help to the hard-of-hearing.

For those sufferers without any escape from the non-stop jukebox in their minds, one can only hope that the next song is a good one.

Just make sure you don’t get William Hung’s human-rights violating performances stuck in your head.

Arcangel

Posted 20 April 2006 at 02:05 am

Two of the worst music’s in the world are Country & Western. With my luck that is what I would have to put up with if I suffered from this affliction. Oh yea and a lot of the Rap junk as well.

Marius

Posted 20 April 2006 at 03:30 am

With my luck I’ll be stuck with Come On Eileen forever.

CanInternet

Posted 20 April 2006 at 03:56 am

“tended to hear religious music”

just walk into the light…

glych

Posted 20 April 2006 at 04:19 am

I found this article on Digg.com and it hit me that I experience this phenomenom all the time. Only the music I hear is somewhat more of a trans/punk/techno mix.I thought I was crazy! I hardly fit into the “norms” layed out in this article at all; I am 22, do not suffer from OCD (though I do have a schizotypal personality disorder), and though I have lost 70% of my hearing due to my brother having a loud garage band that practiced every day growing up, I hear well enough to not always rely on reading lips and have not yet learned ASL to communicate.

I have told numorous people about the fantom music and they just look at me like I’m crazy. It’s good to know that I now have something to research to see if I can get to the bottom of it.

(Oh, and listening to music rarely works for me for more than an hour after I stop listening to it. My brain must be music deprived ^_^)

-glych

Mark

Posted 20 April 2006 at 04:22 am

Ooh, you should read “The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat” by Oliver Sacks. He talks about this phenomenon, including a story about an Irish woman who had been adopted by American parents, and completely forgotten everything about where she grew up in Ireland. She had absolutely no recollection whatsoever, apart from her adoptive parents telling her about it.

Then one day, when she was quite old, she started hearing Irish music, and hundreds of memories or Ireland came flooding back, just out of thin air. She remembered her childhood friends, the streets of the town where she grew up, the games she used to play, everything.

Then, suddenly, she stopped hearing the music, and the memories vanished again. She can’t even recall the tunes she once heard, or picture one of the memories she regained. But she does remember the feelings she associated with the memories, the feelings of home and her natural parents, even though the memories aren’t there (or at least are completely inaccesible).

It’s a truly fascinating book, and well worth the read — you will be astonished at the complexities of the human brain and it’s malfunctions.

1c3d0g

Posted 20 April 2006 at 04:53 am

Arcangel: nah, country & western are all right once in a while (and a few songs here and there are pretty good IMHO). But some others…ha! Death to Rap, that’s all I’m going to say. And long live Metal! ;-)

another viewpoint

Posted 20 April 2006 at 05:15 am

NO…but if you hum a few bars I’ll fake it! Can’t remember his name, but his face sure rings a bell!

Let’s see…30 cases over a 15 year period…I hope those researchers had a daytime job. Must have been a slow day in the cuckoo’s nest.

So much for musical hallucination…what about the visual hallucinations? I rather fancy those pink elephants on the wall over there. BTW…disco still stucks…

“Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” by the Beatles has been struck in my head for the past two weeks. I’ve started singing it in the shower and my roommates think I’m weird.

“No one will be watchin’ us…whyyyy don’t we d-do it in the road?”

ke4roh

Posted 20 April 2006 at 09:39 am

Great picture! I can’t tell what music is in the background, but I can tell it’s not “A Horse with No Name” – because that’s a song with no tune but just one note over and over and over and over…

Floj

Posted 20 April 2006 at 09:58 am

Nothing cures a music induced headache like a good slice of pumpkin pie with a huge scoop of whip cream. Good stuff.

rp2

Posted 20 April 2006 at 10:05 am

Floj said: “Nothing cures a music induced headache like a good slice of pumpkin pie with a huge scoop of whip cream. Good stuff.”

tell me Floj, do you listen to a lot of music? and are you overweight?

Spirrah

Posted 20 April 2006 at 11:13 am

My so-called ‘musical hallucinations’ tend to occur when I haven’t listened to any music for a few days. I’m neither deaf nor schizophrenic nor old – yet. To stop it, I play the song I’m ‘hearing’ once followed by something else I like.

ekangas70

Posted 20 April 2006 at 11:14 am

I was having trouble browsing this site at school until I found a way to get around the block that they put on this site. If any of you are having trouble getting to sites from work or school try http://www.imhidden.com or http://www.fasthide.com to get around it. From my understanding of how these proxy sites work is they make the school firewall view it as you only visiting the proxy site rather than the blocked site. Hope it helps guys.

Alan Bellows

Posted 20 April 2006 at 11:38 am

ke4roh said: “Great picture! “

Thanks! I needed something in a pinch, and I couldn’t find anything decent, so it’s the result of some quick photoshoppery.

Chris

Posted 20 April 2006 at 11:56 am

“I read the news today, oh boy………” Musical torment……..reminds me of the playing of “Ode to Joy” in the movie “A Clockwork Orange.” Of course, try *teaching* music! One tends to block out those early attempts at making music. THOSE crude representations of the songs don’t seem to be the ones that come back as “musical torture.” So……hopefully you will pick a song that “has a good beat and you can dance to it………”

another viewpoint

Posted 20 April 2006 at 12:22 pm

Thank you Sonny and Cher….the beat goes on!

lp

Posted 20 April 2006 at 12:27 pm

Jingles from commercials ALWAYS get stuck in my head.

Sandra Thurston

Posted 20 April 2006 at 01:26 pm

I’ve got James Blunt stuck in my head singing “You are beautiful”, but I don’t really mind…

rp2 said: “tell me Floj, do you listen to a lot of music? and are you overweight?”

I actually think he’s really on to something. I’d go for a double scoop of the whipped cream.

BeXtra

Posted 20 April 2006 at 02:15 pm

No! I’ll tell you what the world’s worst song to get stuck in your head is….

Mnah Mnah Doo Dooo Do do do…. Mnah Mnah.

Alan Bellows

Posted 20 April 2006 at 02:22 pm

BeXtra said: “Mnah Mnah Doo Dooo Do do do…. Mnah Mnah.”

When you hear that song in your head, it’s the ghost of Jim Henson trying to possess your body. Just take another toke and enjoy the ride.

R.I.P. Jim Henson… the world is a duller place without him.

Chris

Posted 20 April 2006 at 03:17 pm

BeXtra said:

“Mnah Mnah Doo Dooo Do do do…. Mnah Mnah.”

Ooooohhh……..that one is right up there with “Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall……ninety-nine bottles of beer………take one down, pass it around….”

TDavis

Posted 20 April 2006 at 03:38 pm

Find a copy of Arthur C. Clarke’s “Tales From The White Hart” and read “The Ultimate Melody”. That story has stuck in my head for years just like a piece of lethal music!
Interesting commentary here, too….http://deoxy.org/alephnull/melody.htm

Anonymous User

Posted 20 April 2006 at 03:44 pm

this is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends!

some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and now they will be singing it forever just because… (repeat chorus)

white_matter

Posted 20 April 2006 at 03:56 pm

The guys with OCD keep playing the song over and over again because they get right to the end and mess up the song and have to start over :)

Chris said: “”I read the news today, oh boy………” Musical torment……..reminds me of the playing of “Ode to Joy” in the movie “A Clockwork Orange.” “

That is correct but would have accepted Beethoven’s 9th Symphony as well. Still your board, pick again….

“I’m Sailing Away…….Setting a course for the virgin sea…..” come on you know the words.

Floj

Posted 20 April 2006 at 04:10 pm

rp2 said: “tell me Floj, do you listen to a lot of music? and are you overweight?”

I love music, nothing really bothers me when I get it in my head. I think about Bohemian Rhapsody and that gets stuck in my head. Otherwise, Christian music definitely gets stuck in my head. I don’t even really listen to it so that’s kind of weird. I wonder if there’s something diferent about it that would cause that. As for being overweight; Do I look like I am rp2?

Anyway, Thanks Alan for posting such awesome articles. This site has become a daily routine ever since my friend showed it to me. You should have some pie too.

Cynthia Wood

Posted 20 April 2006 at 04:11 pm

Oh – that’s what’s going on… much is explained.

Right now the theme song from “Ben Ten” (a kid’s animated show) is running repeatedly through my head – but it’s almost always something. I’ve never forgiven the tenth grade choir for teaching me an excreble piece of tripe entitled “I Can’t Stop Singing This Crazy Song”. Nothing, but nothing does for torment like having that playing in your head for a week straight.

Mark

Posted 20 April 2006 at 04:21 pm

Execrable is the best word ever, bonus points!

just_dave

Posted 20 April 2006 at 08:35 pm

It’s a small world after all, It’s a small world after all,
It’s a small world after all,
It’s a small, small world.

white_matter

Posted 20 April 2006 at 09:06 pm

Fish Heads, Fish Heads,

Rolly, Polly Fish Heads,
Fish Heads, Fish Heads,
Eat Them Up…Yum!

koshersushi

Posted 21 April 2006 at 12:17 am

This is the song that doesn’t end
yes it goes on and on MY FRIEND
some people started singing it not knowing what it was
and they’ll continue HEARING IT IN THEIR HEAD just because
this is the song that doesn’t end…

Sadly, this is my destiny.

gagan

Posted 21 April 2006 at 12:29 am

shld i stop listnig to musci now only.. :(

Berkana

Posted 21 April 2006 at 01:38 am

Sandra Thurston said: “I’ve got James Blunt stuck in my head singing “You are beautiful”, but I don’t really mind…”

. . . but the lyrics don’t make sense at all, so when that song echos in my head, it bugs the hell out of me. He says two contradictory statements one after another; at one point, he sings “there must be an angel with a smile on her face, who thought that I should be with you” and then immediately laments that he can never be with this same woman. Ugh. don’t people care for consistency?

sparklemomma

Posted 21 April 2006 at 09:32 am

Berkana said: “. . . but the lyrics don’t make sense at all, so when that song echos in my head, it bugs the hell out of me. He says two contradictory statements one after another; at one point, he sings “there must be an angel with a smile on her face, who thought that I should be with you” and then immediately laments that he can never be with this same woman. Ugh. don’t people care for consistency?”

Yes, but not when it’s James Blunt. He can sing whatever he wants in that whiney British falsetto of his.

glych

Posted 21 April 2006 at 12:50 pm

It’s not a song I know, it’s just…I don’t know…hints of songs I know. Similar harmonies and melodies to what I’m used to… It’s a lot like someone playing rifts on a guitar with hardly any forthought as to what the next note will be. Sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes it’s just…very strange. I’ll pic up the book “The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat,” Mark, thank you for telling me about it.

As for “A Small World After All,”

*ahem*

It’s a world of pain,
It’s a world of fear.
Ye abandon hope,
All who enter here.

it’s a pain we can tell,
‘Cause we’re down here in hell,
It’s a small hell just for Walt.

*crack those whips!*

It’s a small hell just for Walt.
It’s a small hell just for Walt.
It’s a small hell just for Walt,
it’s small, Walt, hell!

Oh there’s so much more to that song parody… I should really write music ^_^.

-glych

Christ

Posted 21 April 2006 at 02:26 pm

When I get a song stuck in my head it always seems like a bad copy. It’s not real strong. I usually end up changing the words in my head. Like, that ‘Message in a Bottle’ song, that usually comes through as ‘Message in a Butthole’.

I remember the song “My ship is coming in”, and the lyrics “Dry your eyes, we’ll celebrate”, and what got stuck in my head was “Dry your eyes with cellotape.!!”

Captain Haddock

Posted 23 April 2006 at 05:26 am

I once suffered from this problem for a short while. I had the transformers music stuck in my head. I thought I was developing schizophrenia. It passed however a while after I removed my cell phones transformers ringtone.

I get this all the time, it’s mostly classical music for me, though…I used to think I was crazy

OsakaWilson

Posted 02 May 2006 at 05:46 am

I didn’t fit any of the criteria in the article above for people who normally experience this, but when I was a child, up until about puberty, this would happen to me regulary. It was so clear that I seriously couldn’t tell if it was actual music playing or not. I did however find a way to tell the difference. I would ‘will’ the lyrics to become something other than they should be. If I could do this, I knew it was in my head. I actually had a great deal of fun with it. It just stopped happening without my noticing it. I am a regular lucid dreamer (dreaming while being fully aware that it is a dream and being able to control it) and I think these things are somehow related. The music is a bit like dream seeping into waking life.

I thought this happened to everyone else too, until I read an article about Toni Tenille and she said that she has this ‘special gift’ to actually hear the songs in her head and compose them before putting them on paper. I have no doubt that Beethoven also had this skill when he was writing symphonies while deaf. I see it as a skill that we have the potential for, but don’t cultivate.

Mark said: an Irish woman who had been adopted by American parents, and completely forgotten everything about where she grew up in Ireland. She had absolutely no recollection whatsoever, apart from her adoptive parents telling her about it.

Then one day, when she was quite old, she started hearing Irish music, and hundreds of memories or Ireland came flooding back, just out of thin air. She remembered her childhood friends, the streets of the town where she grew up, the games she used to play, everything.
“

heard of an old woman in america who had not spoken irish in like 70 years developed a kind of stroke that effected her language centers so she started talking in irish only. they had to get an irish nun to care for her as her use of english was gone.

Melon Head

Posted 15 May 2006 at 03:36 pm

I had a very physically unpleasant, loud, repetitive job a couple years ago and I tried to relieve the torture by singing songs just under my breath. I abandoned that when it took me about a month before I could get The Beatles “Rocky Racoon” out of my head. I still like the song, but I rarely listen to it now.

karousel

Posted 26 June 2006 at 06:31 am

I began having music hallucinations about 2 months ago, I’m 59, no hearing problems. Anytime the TV is turned off, the music starts, The music hallucinations started with America the Beautiful for 3 days, then hymns, then kids songs, sometimes 2 or 3 are going at once, Doctor put me on Zoloft last week, but no help yet. At least I was glad to see there are a few others with this rare condition. If it doesn’t stop soon, I’m seeing a nuerologist, as I also have obstructive and central sleep apnea, and a couple herniated discs in my neck from falling asleep and falling forward and bouncing my head several years ago, maybe this is causeing the music? I have an IQ of 138, never had any blunt trama to the head, such as a blow or hard bump. I need a cure, so far only my husband and Dr. know of this problem, The first couple of nights, I got up to see if I had left something turned on making the music. Even asked my husband if he heard any music, no it was just me. If I’m talking on the phone or have the TV on loud enough, I’m Ok, but if the TV is low volume, I hear it plus the music. I need some real answers, better yet a cure.

frenchsnake

Posted 01 July 2006 at 09:11 pm

Now this is interesting. I’m 18 and mildly schizophrenic, and I can usually hear some kind of music. To get it out of my head, I usually sing along, because it’s better when I can control it. The music thing happens to me in spurts: nonstop for a few days or weeks, then some silence. For some reason, my most common musical hallicunation is faint bagpipe music.

RageIsTheNewBlack

Posted 17 February 2007 at 06:01 pm

Captain Haddock said: “I once suffered from this problem for a short while. I had the transformers music stuck in my head. I thought I was developing schizophrenia. It passed however a while after I removed my cell phones transformers ringtone.”

Back when my ringtone was “Gone Away” by The Offspring, I would hear the clip of the song that used for the ringtone (but it was very faint) and one time I even tried to answer my phone. I thought I was going crazy, but it stopped after I changed my ringtone.

Circlehead

Posted 25 April 2007 at 10:37 am

There’s an interesting anecdote in Daniel Dennett’s Consciousness Explained about a brain surgeon carrying out a procedure on a fully awake patient which involved electrically stimulating certain parts of the brain. When the surgeon worked a particular part of the young man’s gray matter, the patient reported hearing Gun N’ Roses’ “Outta Get Me” playing clearly in his head.

KireSunfer

Posted 20 June 2007 at 09:08 am

In regards to the comments posted by Captian Haddock and RageIsTheNewBlack. I’ve been consistently hearing my cell phone go off when it is not. I have a nondescript, stock ringtone. By now I carry my cell phone in my shirt pocket so that when I hear it going off I can immediately verify wether or not the sound is coming from the phone speaker or my mind. I have since taken to the thought that it’s just the foreign wavelengths melting my brain but I guess it could be some sort of syndrome.

Rachelita

Posted 19 May 2008 at 02:30 pm

white_matter said: “Fish Heads, Fish Heads,

Rolly, Polly Fish Heads,
Fish Heads, Fish Heads,
Eat Them Up…Yum!”

You are now officially my favorite! xD

weasel

Posted 26 May 2008 at 10:42 pm

I found this site researching musical hallucinations. They started abruptly for me almost 2 weeks ago and it’s been constant except during conversations and real music. I call it “sado-musicism”. I’m waiting for a neuro appointment and trying not to think I’ll be dead soon of a brain tumor. Although death may be preferable to military marches on tuba, xylophone (sp?) and kazoo. I’m blown away by the similarity of others’ experiences – people mentioned America the Beautiful, choral music, spirituals, “Old Man River”, which degenerated into “Old Damn Zipper”. Stuff I wouldn’t tune my dial to. Have heard some gorgeous melodies and harmonies, and other genres of music. I don’t recognize a lot of it.

weasel

Posted 26 May 2008 at 10:57 pm

There’s also a slow, distant, ethereal and definitely creepy quality to the music. Lots of minor chords. Maybe an exorcist rather than a neurologist is called for. And 50’s night was a drag – Barbara Ann, Let’s Twist Again. Oh, the horror.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but:

Posted 30 October 2008 at 09:50 am

nutritionalalchemist said: “must be the Canadians fault……

come on eileen?….how the the chicken dance?”

BLAST! How did you catch on to our neferious scheme?!

TS_Curious

Posted 28 January 2009 at 09:17 am

I was thinking while reading this that it sounded very similar to Bonnet’s halucinations. Looked it up on Google and I was correct they are sorta related. Your mind will tend to “fill in” stimulus that is deprived of in some situations. AMAZING

songstress

Posted 08 March 2009 at 03:33 pm

the first song was Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone. HATE THAT SONG!
Since then, it has been America the Beautiful, One More Night by Phil Collins, Jet by Paul McCartney, assorted Christmas carols, the Beach Boys and more. As I write this, I am being entertained by a choir of male voices who are chanting oh my lord. After reading previous posts, I better not get stuck with come on Eileen. The other one that keeps me awake is that song I can see clearly now the rain has gone!@

songstress

Posted 09 March 2009 at 05:41 am

addendum: I almost forgot; there has also been Elvis Presley singing I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You, as well as I’d Like to Teach the World To Sing. I am a young middle age -get this- human service master’s level professional. I have consulted several doctors, had various tests including cat scans and MRI’s, and have been told there are no apparent problems. I think I am relatively sane and rational, but after my first internal Michael Jackson solo I thought I was bonkers. I believe that these things happen when under great stress and I have also been told that these could be a form of tinnitis. Auditory problems run in my family. I also have been prescribed amitryptiline for pain control as I suffer from fibromyalgia. I also have attention deficit disorder. Whether all these things inter-relate I am not sure.What helps me when I start hearing something I don’t like is to put on classical music or something soothing like Yanni or Enya. Hope this helps someone else!

thekenemy

Posted 05 April 2011 at 05:22 am

I am so going to get this when I’m old, and it’s so going to be Creedence over and over…

Madonna1

Posted 11 August 2012 at 12:48 pm

Iv’e had music halluinations for about 2 months, abrupt onset. I am going out of my mind. Most of these posts are 6 years old, isn’t there any new reasearch or treatment theories? It’s usually the last song I heard, or just a general beat over and over, so strong that I am uttering them out loud. It can be the ice cream truck that just went by, songs from random past and present. I had an MRI yesterday and an EEG set up for next week. Maybe I’ll get some answers. But the neurologist said if he dosen’t find anything he cant help me. I am damned if they do or don’t. Any new doctors researching this? Help from anyone would be appreciated. The only psychiatric problem I have is depression, and I read about 2 other people who have fibromyalgia, which I also have. Hope somebody out there is going to read this and respond. I can’t live this way, thanks.

nainsi

Posted 30 December 2014 at 01:12 am

frenchsnake said: “Now this is interesting. I’m 18 and mildly schizophrenic, and I can usually hear some kind of music. To get it out of my head, I usually sing along, because it’s better when I can control it. The music thing happens to me in spurts: nonstop for a few days or weeks, then some silence. For some reason, my most common musical hallicunation is faint bagpipe music.”

I just started hearing bagpipe music a few days ago and I thought someone must be playing it inside my apartment building, or outside. I looked out the windows, I checked the stairway, and there was no bagpipe music. Then I realized that I heard it in every room and I thought it must be the heating system or the electrical system. I finally realized it is in my head when I put my hands over my ears. It plays the tune of Amazing Grace over and over again. Now I’m Irish and I love bagpipe music, but this is driving me crazy!

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